Consortium/SLT

Index

Hydrocarbon Solvents REACH Consortium

The Hydrocarbon Solvents consortium was formed in June 2008 by the Hydrocarbon Solvents Producers Association (HSPA), a sector group of Cefic (European Council of the Chemical Industry).

Consortium descriptionThe objective of the Hydrocarbon Solvents REACH consortium is to undertake the collective activities related to the registration of Hydrocarbon Solvents under REACH, including sharing of relevant research information. The project management of this consortium is handled by ReachCentrum.

Substances covered

The substances covered in the HCSC REACH consortium can be found in the naming convention (updated in September 2017).In categories 3, 4 ,8, 9 a testing plan has been proposed for the reprotoxicity endpoint.

HSPA Substance Name /CAS No. Relationship

The REACH directive has a specific emphasis on substance identification which goes beyond the traditional substance definitions provided in the European Chemical inventories.The European Inventory of Existing Commercial Substances (EINECS) descriptions and numbers are currently used to identify chemical substances. Each of those substances listed has a dedicated Chemical Abstracts Service number (CAS no.) and description. The CAS no. is the unique identifier for chemicals and related substances, including petroleum derived materials, on a global basis.

EINECS and CAS no. descriptions do well describe broad cut hydrocarbons from standard refinery processes, but they are less useful when it comes to more narrow cut and highly refined hydrocarbon solvents. The difference in refinement and distillation range is reflected in classification and labelling as well. Most hydrocarbon solvents are known as UVCB substances within the REACH framework and with REACH having a specific emphasis on substance identification; HSPA has developed a naming convention for hydrocarbon solvents based on the chemical composition of the substance. These new substance definitions and a category approach for the toxicological assessments are the basis for the classification and labelling of those substances.

ECHA has welcomed the approach to develop a more specific naming convention for this type of substances. REACH registrations will be done accordingly with new EC numbers to be assigned.The hydrocarbon solvents described by a HSPA substance are a specific and more narrow defined subset of one or more existing CAS no.(s) .For the respective products the CAS no. continues to be the identifier outside the Community and for global inventory entries.

The classification and labelling for REACH has been developed on basis of the HSPA substance definitions. This classification and labelling is only valid for products complying with the narrow definitions of the HSPA substances. Therefore it is important to emphasize that products defined through a HSPA substance relate to one or more CAS no. but not the other way round.

Membership

The Hydrocarbon Solvents consortium structure includes a Steering Committee, a Technical Committee and the consortium secretariat managed by ReachCentrum. In this consortium, 12 companies currently combine their efforts to prepare consistent registration dossiers for almost 80 substances in 9 categories before 1 December 2010.

Membership is open to any applicant fulfilling the membership criteria. The HCSC consortium is open to any European and non-European companies manufacturing Hydrocarbon Solvents as well as importers of the substances. Downstream users and other data holders are also invited to play an active role in the work of the consortium.

Uses

The list of uses being considered for inclusion in the CSR for each of the substances covered by the consortium can be found Uses.

Classification & Labelling

The classification and labelling for REACH has been developed on basis of the HSPA substance definitions. This classification and labelling is only valid for products complying with the narrow definitions of the HSPA substances. Therefore it is important to emphasize that products defined through a HSPA substance relate to one or more CAS no. but not the other way round. The reference between the HSPA substances and CAS no. (s) can be found in the HSPA substance CAS no. relationship compilation.